Heart is a vital, fist-sized organ which is located in the left side of chest cavity, responsible for pumping blood throughout blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. Diseases affecting the heart may be structural or functional. Anything which damages heart or decreases heart's supply of oxygen, makes it less efficient, reduces its ability to fill and pump, disrupts a coordinated relationship between the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels and harms not only the heart but the rest of the body as well.
Heart disease, or cardiovascular disease, accounts for 30 percent of deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the United States, almost 700,000 people die from heart disease each year. In India in the past five decades, rates of coronary disease among urban populations have risen from 4 percent to 11 percent. Nearly 50 percent of cardiovascular diseases-related deaths in India occur below the age of 70, compared with just 22 percent in the West. This trend is particularly alarming because of its potential impact on one of Asia's fastest-growing economies. In 2000, for example, India lost more than five times as many years of economically productive life to cardiovascular disease than did the U.S., where most of those killed by heart disease are above retirement age.
Nearly 95 percent of people who develop fatal cardiovascular disease have at least one of the following major risk factors: high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, besides a poor diet and overweight. In addition, cardiovascular diseases can also occur in absence of traditional risk factors.
Among the leading new potential culprits, LDL-C (low density lipoprotein cholesterol) puts us in the high risk zone as far as heart diseases are concerned. The cholesterol gets deposited in the arteries making them narrower and narrower. As a result the blood supply to the heart gets thwarted. This leads to heart attacks.
Several conventional drug therapies are commonly used in addition to the practice of healthy lifestyle. Prescription drug choices to treat elevated LDL-C are the bile acid sequestrants (cholestyramine and colestipol), nicotinic acid (niacin), gemfibrozil, probucol, and clofibrate. Niacin, in particular, has troublesome side effects (e.g. itching, flushing). Other types of prescription drugs such as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, commonly known as statins drugs, are commonly used nowadays. Examples are: Lipitor/atorvastatin, Baycol/cerivastatin, Lescol/fluvastatin, Mevacor/lovastatin, Pravachol/pravastatin, Crestor/rosuvastatin, and Zocor/simvastatin. However, these drugs have demonstrated side effects such as muscle pain, muscle weakness, fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, memory/thinking problems, and mood/personality changes, cognitive problems among other symptoms. Simvastatin could be a cause of disrupted sleep in some patients. Lovastatin also has side effects particularly including liver dysfunction.
Alternatives to prescription drugs are being viewed with increasing interest especially since the withdrawal from the market of the prescription cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol after numerous deaths associated with its use.
Ischaemic heart disease (IHD), characterized by reduced blood supply to the organs, is a condition of recurring chest pain or discomfort that occurs when a part of the heart does not receive enough blood. The signs and symptoms of ischemic heart disease may develop slowly as arteries gradually become blocked, or they may occur quickly if an artery suddenly becomes blocked. Some people with ischemic heart disease have no symptoms at all, while others may have severe chest pain (angina) and shortness of breath that can pose a risk of heart attack.
Several conventional drug therapies are commonly used for treatment of Ischemic heart disease. Severe symptoms that are not relieved by medication alone are treated with surgical procedures in addition with following healthy lifestyle.
Conventional drugs falling in various groups viz. Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors, for example, Accuprila (quinapril), Altacea (ramipril), Capotena (captopril); Alpha & Beta Blockers, for example, Carduraa (doxazosin mesylate), Hytrina, Inderala (propanolol), Lopressora; Calcium Channel Blockerse, for example, Verapamil (Calana, Isoptina) and diltiazem; Cholesterol Lowering Drugs; Diuretics; Digitalis; Nitrates; Anticoagulants are used for treating IHD.
However, there exist a number of side effects for the existing therapies. Such side effects can include skin rash, dry hacking cough, dizziness, sleepiness, nasal congestion and fatigue or tiredness, edema. Many of the Cholesterol Lowering Drugs cause a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, bloating, excess gas, and abdominal distress. Many of these agents may also alter the function of the liver and the liver enzymes. Diuretics include excess loss of fluid leading to dehydration, excess loss of potassium, which may be life threatening. Digitalis may include visual difficulties as well as cardiac arrhythmias. The later may, at times, be life threatening.
The existing medications cause a number of side effects as discussed above. Therefore, alternatives to prescription drugs are being viewed with increasing interest in the treatment of Ischemic heart diseases and high cholesterol.
The herbal kingdom offers a few remedies for effective treatment of Ischemic Heart Diseases and high cholesterol. Further, the increasing hectic and stressful lifestyles of the people especially due to overworking, stress, fatigue, among other causes, demands new and more effective herbal compositions for appreciable relief up to the satisfaction of the patients.
Accordingly, there still exists an ongoing need for developing a new herbal composition which is safe and effective against Ischemic Heart Diseases and high cholesterol yet devoid of side effects and toxicity so as also to rejuvenate the general health. The present disclosure satisfies these needs.